Attachment for stapling machines



July 16, 1940.

J. T. DALTQN ATTACHMENT FOR STAPLING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 51., 1938 #251 cm Wt John Thomas @aliow July 16, 1940. J. T. DALTON 2,207,914

ATTACHMENT FOR STAPLING MACHINES Filed Dec. 51, 19:58 5 sheets-Sheet 2 1 /Ln T/aonms Daltow.

July 16, 1940. J. T. DALTON 2,207,914

ATTACHMENT FOR STAPLING MACHINES Filed Dec. 51, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 rimimll l @bbowwg- July 16 1940. J DALTON 2,207,914

ATTACHMENT FOR STAPLING MACHINES Filed Dec. 51, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 any/W 41.

July 16, 1940. J. T. DALTON ATTACHMENT FOR STAPLING MACHINES Filed Dec. 31, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 WW, $04 1, z m w (Mam 5 Patented July 16, 1940 ATTACHMENT FOR STAPLING MACHINES John. Thomas Dalton, Durham,. 0., assignor to. I

,Golden Belt Manufacturing Company, Inc.,

Durham, N. 0., a corporationol New Jersey Application December 31 1938, Serial No. 248,710

12 Claims.

This'invention relates'to wire stitching or stapling machines and more particularly to av feeding'attachment for a wire stitcher or stapling machine.

In my copending application, Serial No. 234,916 filed October 14, 1938, I have disclosed and claimed a mechanism for attaching a tag to the string of abag, such as a tobacco bag. The invention disclosedtherein includes means for delivering the bags to the stitching machine and arranging the string on the anvil of the stitching machine and means for stitching tags to the string, the operation of the parts being coordinated with the operation of the stitcher head.

The present invention relates more specifically to the bag feeding mechanism. In the machine forming the subject matter of the present application, I employ the mechanism disclosed and claimed in the said copending application to feed tags to the anvil with a step by step movement coordinated with the operation of the stitching machine, or any other suitable means for so feeding thetags. In place of the bag feeding mech anismv disclosed in said application, I employ an endless chain having brackets mounted thereon. These brackets form pockets which are adapted to receive the bags and convey them toward the anvil of the stitching machine with one of the bag strings arranged so that it can be'fed to the anvil of the stitching machines. I

The invention further comprises guiding means for the bag strings together with a device for engaging a string and positioning it over the anvil prior to the stitching operation.

In the accompanying drawings, I have shown one'embodiment of the invention; In this show-' Fig. 1. is a front view of a stitching machine showing the bag feeding means applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a skeleton perspective view of the drive mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a detailed sectional view of apparatus for separating the two portions of a bag string prior to its delivery over the anvil of the stitching machine;

Fig. dis a detailed perspective view on an enlarged scale of a portion of the bag feeding mechanism and the associated bag string guiding mechanism; 1 1

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same parts;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a hook which en-- gagesthe bag string and carries it over the anvil together with the drive mechanism therefor;

Fig. 7 is a detailed perspective view of the stitcher head, anvil and associatedpartmshowing;

the position of the bag, bag string and tag imme-' diately prior to the descent of. the stitcher head; "Fig. 8 is a skeleton perspective view of a portion of the drive mechanism and device for opening the bag string;

Fig. '9 is a side elevation, broken away,j of a portion of the bag conveying mechanism, the

anvil and stitcher head and the string handling mechanism showing the relative position of these parts; and i i Fig. 10 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 9 with the stitcher head removed. 1

The apparatus forming the subject matter of the present invention, in its broadest aspects, comprises a frame or bed A, a wire stitcher B, a bag feeding mechanism C and 'a tag feeding mechanism-D.

v The frame may be of any suitable construction for supporting the various parts and preferably consists of a table I and suitable legs 2, the bottom of; the legs being broken away in Fig. "1 of the drawin s.

The bag feeding mechanism is supported by suitable auxiliary frame or bracket 3 secured to the front of the main frame.

The wire stitching machine may be'of any suitable construction, for instance, such as is shown in thepatent to Maynard, No. 1,302,402, a, detailed description thereof is believed to be unnecessary. As shown in Figs. 1 and, 2, the wire stitching mechanism may comprise a suitable stitcher head 4, mounted on an arm 5, secured to the bed of the machine by bolts arranged in flanges 6 on the base of thewire stitcher. It may be driven by a motor I, whose shaft carries a pinion 8 (see Fig. 2) meshing with a gear 9, mounted onthe main shaft (not shown) of the wire stitching machine; which shaft extends through the horizontal portion of the arm 5..

As shown in Figs. 7 and 9, an anvil It is arranged beneath the stitcher head 4., The stitcher f head carries a reel ll upon which is mounted a coil; of wire l2, and the Wire is fed from this coil through a guide tube l3 into the stitcher head. A tag 14, is delivered to the anvil by suitable tag feeding mechanism having a step by stepl end of the bag feeding mechanism and sprocket Wheels l9 at the outlet end of the bag feeding mechanism. Sprocket wheels is are carried by a shaft 20 and sprocket wheels I9 are likewise carried by a shaft 2|. These shafts being mounted in suitable bearings carried by the auxiliary frame 3. The shaft I8 is driven from the main shaft of the wire stitching machine.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 9 of the drawings, certain of the links of the sprocket'chain I! are provided with extensions 22. A plurality of plates.

23 are secured to the chains and these plates form the base or support of the bag holding means. As shown, the plates are provided with flanges 24 and suitable fastening members are ar ranged in aligned openings inthese flangesand in the openings formed in the extensions 22 of the links of the sprocket chains. 'Cu'rved arms 25 and 26 extend outwardly from the plates 23. A pair of such arms form a pocket for the reception of a plurality'of bags IE'as shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 10. Arm 26 of each pair, engages the adjacent end of the arm 25 of the next pair as indicated at 21. The engagement of these arms not only adds to the rigidity of the structure; but also prevents the bags from placed on the chain.

Shaft 20 isdriven from the main shaft through suitable drive mechanism shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. As shown, the main shaft of the wire stitcher carries a sprocket wheel 28, over which passes a chain 29. The chain also passes over a sprocket wheel 30, mounted on a shaft 50 which shaft is arranged substantially on'the" level on the frame of the machine and extends forwardly. Shaft 50 is mounted in suitable bearings 51, carried by brackets 52 secured to the frame of'th'e machine. The rear end of shaft-5|] is provided with a hand wheel 53 to permit'manual operation of the machine; The opposite end of shaft 50 is provided with a bevel 'gear54 meshing with a bevel gear 55 on a shaft 56. The outer'end of shaft 56 is provided'with a sprocket wheel 51 and-this sprocket wheel is aligned with a sprocket wheel 58 mounted on a main drive shaft 59. A sprocket chain 6'0 passesover the sprockets 51 and 58 to drive the main shaft from the shaft 56. Shaft 20 of "the bag feeding mechanism is also driven from the shaft 56 by means of a worm 6| 'mounted on shaft 56 and worm'gear 62 mounted on shaft 20. p i Q From the above, it will be seen that bagsl placed in the pockets formed by the plates 23 and the arms 25 and 26 will be carried from the right in Fig, '1- past the stitcher head of the stitching machine to the other end of the bag feeding mechanism. A plurality of bags are placed in the pockets by an operator as the sprocket chain beginsits upper flight and fed past the stitcher 4 and 9, the bags are arranged on their sides,-

and the lower set of strings l6 are adapted'to be fed to the stitcher head with the upper setof strings depending in front of the bags. Worm shaft 64 is arranged across the front of the machine slightly spaced fromthe bag feeding chain (see Fig. 10) and this worm shaft is driven from the shaft 56 by a pair of sprocket being improperly wheels (55 and 65 mounted on the two shafts and connected to each other by a sprocket chain 61. As the operator places a plurality of bags in one of the pockets on the chain, he separates the bag strings and arranges them in the spiral of the worm. as shown in Figs; 4, 5, and 10 of the drawings; The strings remain thus separated as. the bags-are fed toward the stitcher head thereby permitting the bag string engaging mechanism to engage an individual bag string loop and feedit to the stitcher head.

The bag string engaging mechanism is arranged adjacent the stitcher head and is provided with a reciprocating movement across the front of themachineto bring it into position to engage a bag string and to remove it from engagement with the bag string at the prcpertime. It'is further provided .with an oscillating movement to feed the bag string into a position over the anvil for the stitching operation.

As shown, the main drive shaft-59 isprovid'ed with"a-'-'cam 68 having a cam groove adapted.- to

receive a pair of rollers 69 carried by a recipror eating member H3. The reciprocating member 10. is adapted toreciprocate in suitable guides H on the fra'meof the machine. A curved arm '12 is'pivoted'to the end'of the reciprocating memberas at 1.3 and'a horizontal arm 14 is attached 1 to the free end of this arm. The end of the hori,' zon'tal arm 14 is provided with a reduced portion forming a hook 15 adapted to'engage a bag string I complished by means of an oscillating shaft 16*- which is carried by the reciprocating member Ill.- The-shaft'lfi carries an elongated gear H which meshes with'a rack 18. The rack 18'reci'procates in' suitable guides 19 carried by a plate or frame B Z! which is" supported from the frame of the'ma-' chine byfan arm '8lli Rack 19 is reciprocated" to -oscil1ate"the shaft '16 from a shaft 82 which" is parallel to the 'mainshaft and is driven from th'emain shaft. As shown (see'Fig. 2) the main" shaftis provided with a pinion 83 meshing witha? piniorrfid on the shaft82. Shaft 82 is-provide'd with a cam 85 having a groove adapted. to rev ceive a roller 86. The roller 86 is carried by an arm. 8'! which is pivoted to the frame of the ma-a chine asat BBandwhich is connected to the rack,

18byalink89.

"Oscillation of theshaft 16 causes the arm 14 andixthe'hook 15 to be oscillated by meansof a crank I00 connected on the end of the shaft 16'. and Qconnected to the curved arm 12 by a link I01. "'Thel'link. I0! is connected to the arm 12 at.

a point adjacent its'pivot 13, whereby a wide o'scillating movement is imparted to the arm hi and hook 75 upon a slight oscillation of shaft 16. The

forward-endof' the reciprocating member 10 is also-provided with a vertical arm I02 which car-j; ries a horizontal arm. I03 havin-g'a notch I04 in. its outer" end. The notched end i104 of the" arm M13 is adaptedto engage the edge of a tag 14 (asjshown gin'Fig'. 6.) to move the: tag and place it in proper position for the stitching operation:

The string at each side of the'bag is in the form of a loop and the hook I5 is adapted "to enter this loop. The apparatus is provided with "means for opening the loop just as the hook is about to enter it to insure the entrance oftli e "fiobkinto -the p. A detailed view of this as:

'beveled gear II3 mounted on ashaft I I4 (see Figurefi) The Opposite end of shaft H4 lS fOIO- 'vided with a disk H5; An arm ,I IBjis eccentrically connected to this disk as at-I I'I. The arm "I I6 forms one arm of-;-a toggle member, the other arm I I Bbeingconnected to the arm II-i by; in

'I I9 and this, pin also pivotally connects the :toggle'members to the string separatingarm '1 I5. The other end of arm I I8 is pivoted in a bracket I20 carried by the frame of the machine.- A spring -;I,2I-i-s connected to toggle arm; H18 intermediate its ends and to the lower end of the string separating and lifting arm! Ill. The spring 'I2I holds the arm H in normal upright posi 'tion. Pin III' engages arm H9, and acts as a stop to prevent further movement of the arm in a clockwise direction by the spring Iiil. The upper end of arm IHI is provided with a down.- wardly extending notchxl23.

In operation the eccentric mountingof the arm H6 on the disk I I alternately opens and closes the toggle arms H5 and Hit and moves the connected end of those arms through'a circle. On the upward movement the notch I23 is'brought into position to engage the upper string of the loop I6 and separate the strings, as shown in Figure 3 of the drawings, to facilitate entrance of the hook I5 into the loop. Spring I2I causes the arm III) to exert a yielding pressure on the string. On the downward movement the arm I I0 is moved away from the string and does not engage it.

Tags, I4 are delivered to the anvil II] of the stitching machine, the feed of the bags being coordinated with the operation of the stitcher'so that a tag will be delivered to the anvil prior to each descent of the stitch ahead. These tags may be fed by any suitable feeding mechanism such as that disclosed in my copending application referred to above. The tags are arranged in a tube I30 (see Figure 2) the inner diameter of whichis substantially equal to the diameter of the tags so that the tags are arranged therein in a column. A plate I3I is arranged on the top of this tube, the plate having an opening substantially equal in diameter to the diameter of v the tube. The tags are fed through this open- 'ing from a hopper I32 which is oscillated on the plate I3I. As shown in Figure 2, shaft 82 is provided with a pair of beveled gears I33 and I36 meshing with beveled gears I35 and I35, respec- *tively, on vertical shafts I31 and I38. Shafts I3! and I38 carry disks I39 and I 40 on their upper ends. An arm MI is eccentrically connected to these disks and a second arm I42 is secured thereto. The arm I42 carries a collar I43 which surrounds a neck I44 on the bottom of the hopper I32. In operation the hopper is oscillated by 'the movement of arms MI and I42 and a supply of tags arranged in the hopper are thus agitated and fed into the tube I39. The shaft I38 also 'carries a pair of cams I45 and I45 to impart motion to arms I 41 and I48 by means of which p sep r g-ape The upper flight of the bag feeding chains travels from the right to the left in Figure 1 of the drawings past the anvil III-of the stitching machine.

The feed is coordinated with the operation of the stitcher head to bring one bag in position for arranging the string I6 over the anvil prior to each descent of the stitcher head; A tag I 4 is fed to the stitcher head at the same time. As the bag approaches the anvil, the string separat- 'ing member H0 engages the upper string of the loop, as shown in Figs. and 9 of the drawings,

*to separate the two strings of the loop. When the strings are separated the reciprocating member ID travels across the machine toward the stitcher head and hook I5 enters the loop. At the end of this reciprocation of member ID the arm 14 and hook I5 are oscillated by the oscillation of shaft 16 to bring the bag string over the anvil, as shown in Figure '7 of the drawings. Just prior to the descent of the stitcher head, the reciprocating member III travels in a reverse direction so that hook I5 is withdrawn and is out of the way when the stitcher head descends. Upon the descent of stitcher head the tag I4 is stitched to the string I6 of the bag. The bags continue to travel toward the left, as in Figure 1 of the drawings, and as the chain passes over the sprocket IS the arms 25 and 26 forming theIpocket are slightly separated and the bags, with the tags attached thereto, fall out of the pocket by gravity.

I claim:

1. In combination with a wire stitching machine. an endless belt arranged in front of the anvil of the stitching machine to feed bags of the string closure type thereto with the strings disposed on the side of the belt toward the anvil, means for separating and positioning the strings of the individual. bags. and means for feeding a bag string to the anvil.

2. In combination with a wire stitching machine, an endless belt arranged in front of the anvil of the stitchingmachine, pockets formed on the belt for the reception of bags of the string closure type with the strings of the bags disposed on the side of the belt toward the anvil, means for separating and positioning the strings of the individual bags, and means for feeding a bag string to the, anvil.

3. In combination with a wire stitching machine, an endless belt arranged in front of the anvil 0f the stitching machine, said belt including a plurality of chains, plates carried by said chains, curved plates mounted on the first mentioned plates and forming pockets for the reception of bags of the string closure type with the strings of the bags in the pockets arranged on the side of the belt toward the anvil, means for separating and positioning the strings of the individual bags, and means for feeding a bag string-to the anvil.

4. In combination with a wire stitching machine, an endless belt arranged in front of the anvil of thestitching machine to feed bags of the string closure type thereto, and a worm shaft arranged adjacent the belt, the strings of the bags being adapted to be arranged in the groove of said shaft.

5. In combination with a- Wire "stitching machine, an endless belt arranged in front of the anvil of the stitching machine to feed bags of the string closure type thereto, pockets formed on the belt for the reception of the bags, and a worm shaft arranged adjacent the belt to receive the strings of the bags.

6. In combination with a wire stitching machine, means for feeding bags of the string closure type to the anvil of the stitching machine, means for separating the strings of individual bags and positioning them in a horizontal plane, and means for separating the two strings of a loop.

7. In combination with a wire stitching machine, an endless belt arranged 'in front of the anvil of the stitching machine to feed bags of the string closure type thereto with the strings of the bags arranged on the side of the belt toward the anvil, means for separating the strings of individual bags and positioning them in a hori zontal plane, and means for separating the strings of a loop.

8. In combination with a wire stitching machine, an endless belt arranged in front of the anvil of the stitching machine to feed bags of the string closure type thereto, a worm positioned adjacent the belt and adapted to receive the string loops of the bag, and means for separating the two strings of a loop.-

9. In combination with a wire stitching ma-. chine, an endless belt arranged in front of the anvil of the stitching machine to feed bags-of the string closure type thereto, means for separating and positioning the strings of the bags, and an oscillating hook to deliver the bag string-over the anvil of the stitching machine.

10. In combination with a wire stitching machine, an endless belt arranged in front of the anvil of the stitching machine to feed bags of the string closure type thereto, a worm shaft arranged adjacent the belt and adapted to receive the strings of the bag, and an oscillating hook adapted to deliver a bag stringiover the anvil of I the stitching machine. 3

11. In combination with a wire stitching ma- M j chine, an endless beltarranged in front of the anvil of the stitching machine to feed bags of the string closure type thereto, means for sepacating member arranged adjacent the anvil of the stitching machine, an oscillating shaft mounted on said reciprocating member, anda I hook pivotally mounted on the reciprocating member and connected to said shaft. JOHN THOMAS DALTON. 

